California Grapples With Dangerous Rise in ‘Ghost Guns’
As city-level efforts to address the ongoing popularity in do-it-yourself weapons increase, a California law to increase the pressure on the market goes into effect in 2022.
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Cities across California are ramping up efforts to try to stop the flow of so-called ghost guns into their jurisdictions, as the do-it-yourself weapons appear with increasing frequency at homicide scenes, traffic stops, and community gun buybacks, reports The Guardian. Local officials and prosecutors across California are increasingly resorting to bans and lawsuits to regulate the weapons in their cities.
San Francisco recently became the first California city to pass a ban on ghost guns – weapons built from firearm parts sold without serial numbers, making them difficult to trace. The measure forbids the sale of unserialized weapons and weapon parts by unlicensed dealers. San Diego’s city council voted 8-1 to do the same, creating an ordinance that prohibits the sale of unserialized frames and receivers, two essential pieces of firearms, and forces retailers to complete a background check on customers that buy the parts. San Diego police said they had recovered 211 ghost guns in 2020, up from 77 in 2019. This year, they have already gathered at least 360, according to the department. In San Francisco, police found 97 ghost guns in 2019 and 164 in 2020, according to the city’s police department. So far this year, at least 150 ghost guns have come through the city’s crime lab. In addition to the bans, cities including Los Angeles and San Francisco are suing ghost gun manufacturers and dealers over alleged deceptive business practices.
